We’re excited about the whole concept of video because it can really showcase your business in just a few words or motions. You can use YouTube and other video social marketing sites to help you and you can put it on your own website as well. This will really make a difference. We’re all about enhancing your business exposure through video and other hot social marketing methods.

I’m very excited to share with you the topic of copy. What is copy? You might have heard a lot of people talk about it. Copy is actually the words on the page; the words that people talk about and use to describe what they are trying to say. They can be on an introductory page, a lead capture page, or some sort of brochure that you pick up in the shops. It could even be on a thank you page. Copy is just composed of the words, but it persuades people to do something, whatever it might be. Your copy or the words tell the reader what to do. You’re basically instructing them to do certain things at certain times, and that’s the beauty of copy. You can do it subliminally, or you can do it so that they know what to do. Really powerful words or copy can make all the difference.

Now this is a broad topic. We can’t get into everything about it, but we can scratch the surface. We can certainly share some great ideas to help you along the way, to allow you to move forward and start creating great copies along the way. You can get good copy, wherein everyone knows what to do and they will be persuaded one way or another to take action with whatever it might be that you want them to do. Bad copy, on the other hand, is where the readers are left confused, emotionally drained, or even abandoned, and they won’t be persuaded to do what you want them to do. So that’s the main difference between good copy and bad copy. Which one would you prefer? I know which one I would like.

Have you ever tried to describe something? Ever tried to paint a picture verbally, where you try to show it to other people without actually pointing it out to them but they know exactly what you’re talking about? Well, you’ll be using describing words, and these are adjectives. They really paint a great and graphical picture and you don’t have to worry about them because people will know exactly what you’re on about. And that’s the difference between copy and great copy. It’s a real difference between describing something and just pointing to it and saying, “There it is.” So what would you prefer? Would you prefer an apple? Or would you prefer a crispy, delicious, red, mouth-watering apple? You can see the real difference there. One is describing, and the other one is really inviting.

Great copy shows real animation through words. Copy helps sell the idea and that’s basically what you want to do. If you’re browsing through some sort of brochure in the shops that is describing some holiday destination, you’ll find some great words in there. They are usually enticing or fun and exciting. All these have connotations wherein they are telling you exactly what they want you to do. They use great words in great positions as you go along. And that is great copy.

Another question is: Have you ever seen something which is really cool and looks great, but all the advertising does is describe it in a really boring and plain manner? That, essentially, is wasted copy. They have wasted their words and have not described their product well enough so that you would be enticed to go and check it out further. In other words, they haven’t really described it at all.

Here’s an interesting fact. People forget about things very quickly, they have very short attention span. Now, if you’re human, believe it or not, you’ve got a short attention span. And I mean this as a regular occurrence, not as a way to pick on some people. You’ve got to realize that if people have a short attention span, you need to make sure that your methods are getting out there very quickly. You also have to repeat your message, at least a few times in a short copy, and at least several times in a long copy. So this means that if you have more words, the more you have to repeat yourself, or repeat your instructions on what you want people to do. It’s very important that you repeat this because by the time they move down further on the page, they’ll forget about what you asked them to do in the first place.

Even in video, this rings true. As people listen or watch a video, they might see or hear a message, the one wherein you tell them to go here and have a look at this. By the time they listen or watch further, they’d have forgotten about what you want them to do. So you need to remind them. You could pose it in a different way. You could say a message but just in a different way. For instance, you could say, “If you look over here on the right side of the page, you’ll notice this here and this…” And as they run down in the video, you might say, “Just reminding you about the right hand side, where we have displayed this aspect, and this aspect, where it will really tantalize your feelings, or emotions, or whatever it might be.” Then, later on, you might do the same thing again. Just rephrase it in a different manner.

Video is very powerful. Words are very powerful. If you combine them in the right manner, then you will have a very powerful message. Good copy makes all the difference. It persuades people to do something because of what, because of why… Or perhaps a main reason, which is, “We’re humans, and we have emotions.” So what you’re doing is just passing on their emotions with your words.

So, aside from all the music and all the video and the layouts, the words will persuade you. They are the things which will persuade people to do something or not do something. It’s not just a matter of using words; it’s a matter of using the right words and the right combination, with the right adjectives, at the right time. So, if you have a good salesman, they’ll be able to sell ice to an Eskimo if they use the right words. However, if you don’t use the right words at the right time, then all you’re doing is throwing your words out to a deaf audience. Of course we would want to make sure that we use the right words to the right audience.

Now there’s a special key word there and that is, AUDIENCE, your target market. Good copy comes from knowing your audience. It comes from knowing your exact target market. So example, if you’re trying to sell fish bait to a plant farmer, it just won’t work. Or if you’re trying to sell women’s clothing to a business environment, it won’t work either. You have to match your market to the product.

Before you leap into your video, or to any sort of copy, you have to realize who your target market is. Who is it? Is it a female, a male, or a combination of both? Are they the young people, or the old people? Are they business people? Do they do entrepreneurial things? Or are they just your regular everyday person who goes to a job and goes home afterwards? Do they do this, or do that? I know everyone forms a broad market because we’re all humans and we all need things. However, some needs are specific, so we all form niche markets as well. In other words, we form a specific market to do with business videos. So, there’s no particular way, for example, that I need to go to sell my video to someone who is really after a clothing shop. However, if you think about them and you target your market properly, you could actually market your business videos to the shop owner who is trying to sell the clothing to the audience, or target market. So in this case, the target market for me is really the shop owner, not the clothing person, not the buyer. So it really is important that you understand the target market. Even if you have the best words in the world, and you don’t have the right target market, then you’ll be wasting your time. And we don’t want to do that since time is precious to all of us.

Another great aspect to do with copy and sales copy and business videos is that certain sayings work, or certain phrases work. They’ve been around, been tested and tried, and they just work. They spark curiosity and emotions and that’s primarily why they work. So, when you’re selling or giving away something, you’re not actually selling a product at all, believe it or not. You’re actually offering a solution to their problems. Your video can help sell the solutions to others, in a visual or emotional manner. And that’s what a video is. It is just motion with words and pictures in the background. If you combine all these in the right way, with the right sayings or phrases, then you will spark someone’s curiosity. They will then want to go and inquire further. This is the point of the video. You want them to go and inquire further.

A boring video works sometimes. Other times, it’s just the right type of video presentations that work. But wouldn’t you prefer to get the right combination, the right type of video, with the right type of words and presentation? It’s important to recognize this factor, hence, also knowing your target market. You’ll find that it’s the actual words that clinch the deal. They will close it all. They will fit the emotion over to close the gap. So, good copy sells.

You’ve also got to recognize that the opening sentence or statement has to capture the audience in the first six seconds or so, because as mentioned before, people’s attention spans are very short. If your video is online, don’t forget there are also distractions that are flicking in the background, other things that are moving around. So it’s very easy for them to get distracted and click off your video or click somewhere else. We want to make sure that we get the full effect of the video, capture people’s attentions spans, and don’t lose their attention. This is because you only have six seconds to satisfy people’s curiosity and keep them watching.

Some really cool catch phrases and opening copy sentences could be “discover how you can…,” “imagine being the first…,” or “become instantly…,” “laser targeted methods…,” “secrets revealed…,” “seven ways to… (do whatever),” “it was doomed for failure, until…” And these are only some because there are so many great catch phrase out there and opening sentences and headlines which will actually attract and capture your target audience. They just have to keep reading and keep watching to satisfy their curiosity, to see what you have to say. There’s a ton of these phrases around and you can, in fact, get over a thousand of them to satisfy whatever it is that you are trying to sell, portray, or give away in your videos.

You also need to get good hooks, and what I mean is that it is something that will make your audience hold on for a few more seconds until you reveal the answer to your last hook or question. Now this may seem a bit confusing, but let me give you an example. You can say, “I will outline three golden rules to success, but allow me first to share this really short funny story about my near miss failure experience back in…” They will want to find out what these three success golden rules are but they’ll also want to listen to what your story might be, so they have to hold on and wait for your story to finish in order for them to grab these three golden rules to success. Whatever your story might be, it’s a matter of setting it up. Hooking so that people would want to know more and then keep listening up until they find out what this is. You’ll have a series of stories, hooks, a new story, another hook, and then you’d just keep moving forward. That is a great way of maintaining attention span with someone watching your video, or your sales copy, or your audio product as well.

Essentially, a hook is set, and then a new theme is introduced so that people have to hang on to get answers to your hook. It’s all about sparking curiosity and answering it as you go through. Successful copywriters know how to do this to a T. They do it all of the time. It’s very interesting to see how they do it. All you need to do is mimic their success. It’s not very hard once you know how. You know what’s even funnier? People are generally predictable. I know what satisfies my curiosity or sparks it, and I pretty much guarantee that someone on the other side of the world would be exactly the same. In fact, I know that’s pretty much the case because statistics have proven that over and over again. For the general populace, we’re all the same.

Now imagine that you say to someone, “Look, I’m very happy that you’re staying in this room but I don’t want you to look behind door number three.” Then he/she would think, “Why? What’s behind door number three? Why can’t I go behind door number three and see what’s in there? I want to see what’s behind that door.” So, curiosity is sparked. So much so, that they are really tempted to have a look behind door number three. And you can do this with words and you can do it so that people really become curious subliminally and would want to follow you, without even knowing that they’re following you. Or they can do it subconsciously or consciously, so that they know that they are actually following you and they know that they are following your actions. A good copywriter will be able to use these methods right through his whole copy.

You see how all of this is coming together? Copy really sells. The words you say and compile, the way you put them together, the describing words, the emotional tactics you might put in there, and the hooks you might set, all comes together so that you subliminally allow people to follow your instructions without even realizing it. That’s the power of words. You can move a thousand people with the right words. You can also move one person with the right words. It’s all about knowing exactly how to say it, when to say it, and what words to use.

In all of your business video marketing strategies, you have to really plan them (your strategies). What is it that you want to say, what is it that you want to portray, and what is it that you want the people to do. If you understand what direction that you want the people to go to, then you will be able to make it a lot easier for you to make your video. If you understand what it is you want them to do in one simple action, then you will include that into your copy over and over again, without saying it in the same way. With all of that together, we’re going to say that copy is a great art and a great way to get words out there so that you can move people to do certain things. Obviously, the words you use in a sales video are totally different from the words you use in an introductory video. And it’s also totally different from what you would use to your customers in your training video. It is really a matter of knowing exactly what message you want to say to the right audience and when to say it. Every video you do should be different, although you should have a structure and a way to put it together in exactly the same way over and over again. The videos are important, the way you put the video together is important, and most of all your words have to be exact. They don’t have to be perfect, but they have to portray your message, and good copy does that.

Business video marketing strategies are all about making differences, sharing tips, tricks, and topics which will allow your business to shine through the rest of your niche so that you stand out and so that you are on top of the game. People will come to you because they have seen what you can offer and how you can make a difference in their lives. Why not use your own business, rather than someone else’s, in order to make your lives easier? That’s what video can really do for you.